Taking Stock: 100 Days on the Road
Around every three days I wonder if all this is really happening. We have been on the road for 100 days. 100 days at home would have involved about 14 weekends, 258 Skype calls for work, 8 Parvis St.Gilles market visits, 32 supermarket drop-ins, countless dinners with friends, 98 salads, on average 2 birthday parties […]
Welcome to Iran
“Welcome to Iran!” the man in the white and black Adidas tracksuit waves and grins at us from the front row of the van. We are about 5 minutes into our dolmuş ride from Dogubeyazit and still about 30 km from the Iranian border, but Feri cannot contain his enthusiasm. This former member of the […]
Turkey…Through the Funnel
This is the first in our series – “…Through the Funnel”. It is a way for us to share 12 aspects that stood out to us in our experience of the country and its people. Most aspects will be things we consistently observed along the way and either found amusing, enlightening or cross cutting throughout the region. […]
Chasing Mount Ararat
“My grandfather would always request that my father bring back bags of sugar from his travels, but then proceed to lock them up in a cabinet and never consumed the sugar himself. When I asked why, he would say, ‘the sugar is only for the guests’…this, is Kurdish hospitality.” Bilal recounts. Moving towards the […]
The Lakes of Tatvan
The road from Mardin to Tatvan is a prime example of the diversity in Turkey’s landscape. Travelling through the country, it feels more like 5 countries in one, there are stunning turquoise beaches of the Aegean coast to the west, the nougat ice cream scoop rock formations of Capadoccia in the centre, huge crystal salt […]
Mardin in the Land between the Rivers
“Mesopotamia, comes from the ancient Greek⎜Μεσοποταμία⎜meaning “the land between rivers” -Tigris and Euphrates. It cradles most of modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, Northeastern Syria and Southeastern Turkey.” The landscape dries up as we head further south and further east along Turkey’s edge. The wind sucks out every moist drop as dust particles swirl and rise in the afternoon […]
Gorging on Gaziantep’s Goodies
“People from Istanbul think that Gaziantep cuisine consists of several kinds of kebabs, bulgur wheat, baklava and pistachio nuts. What a pity! What ignorance! These are the tips of the iceberg…Gaziantep, the meeting point of cultures since ancient times, is the richest and most developed city of the region in terms of food culture. An […]
Sweet Sweet Safranbolu
What do you do when you have a week of visa-waiting in Ankara? Why you go to Safranbolu, of course! Only a three hour bus-ride from Ankara, the UNESCO World Heritage site of Safranbolu makes a perfect little escapade from the city streets of the Turkish capital. Sometimes referred to as one of Turkey’s prettiest […]
Likya Yolu – Hiking the Lycian Way
So far on our journey, we have generally proceeded without too much planning, not sure of where we will go next, when, how we would get to our next destination, happy to follow the unexpected. There are a few exceptions to this and one of them was the Lycian Way. One of our favourite methods […]
Refuelling at Fethiye’s Markets
The lure of Turkey’s turquoise coast attracts over a million tourists a year with a high percentage of the country’s best beaches located only a couple of hours from the town of Fethiye. Coming from the sleepy and peaceful Greek islands of Amorgos and Astypalea, we were initially skeptical; excited to be moving onto Turkey, […]
